Creative Writing 101
Lesson 3: Ideas, Plots and Themes.
Themes.
Author Colin Thiele once said; "A plot is what the book is about. The theme is what the book is really about."
This sounds like a contradiction, but it is an excellent example of the intricate relationship between plot and theme.
There are two different kinds of themes.
IMPLIED TRUTH THEMES.
The first is what might be called an "implied truth".
For example, the theme of a book can sometimes be expressed in a simple adage such as "crime doesn't pay".
Imagine a book about a character (call him Joe) who is a computer genius. He plans a scam that brings him a great deal of wealth, while taking just a few cents from thousands of other people. He is never caught, and retires from crime after that one heist.
The theme of this story might be expressed as any of the following, depending on the way the story was slanted;
(1) Real intelligence is not being caught.
(2) Little losses for some mean great gains for others.
(3) Once is enough.
(4) Genius deserves what it can get.
Now, suppose the book is changed a little.
Joe sees needy children and plans a scam that brings a great deal of wealth, while taking just a few cents from thousands of other people. He donates the money to charity, and is never caught, and retires from crime after that one heist.
The themes now might be;
(1) The end justifies the means.
(2) Little losses for some mean great gains for others.
(3) Stealing for others isn't stealing.
Now, how about this version;
Joe's girlfriend cannot afford a holiday she longs for. Joe plans a scam that brings him a great deal of wealth, while taking just a few cents from thousands of other people. He takes his girl on her holiday, is never caught, and retires from crime after that one heist. His girl asks about the source of the wealth and he tells her he inherited it.
The themes now might be;
(1) One bad thing (stealing) leads to another (lying).
(2) Little losses for some mean great gains for others.
(3) White lies and small thefts are OK.
(4) If the truth can hurt you or someone else, you should tell a lie instead.
Finally, how about this?
Joe's girlfriend cannot afford a holiday she longs for. Joe plans a scam that brings him a great deal of wealth, while taking just a few cents from thousands of other people. He takes his girl on her holiday, is never caught, and retires from crime after that one heist. His girl asks about the source of the wealth and he explains. She is horrified, and leaves him.
The themes now might be;
(1) Stealing will always lead to unhappiness.
(2) Genius doesn't equal judgement.
(3) If a thing is worth doing, you might as well make a job of it.
(4) You should always choose a lover whose sense of morality matches yours.
The basic story of genius Joe fleecing others of peanuts to get lots of money is the same. What differs is the motivation behind Joe's crime and his subsequent actions.
These Implied Truth Themes can be troublesome things.
Most authors feel quite happy to write about characters whose morality might not be squeaky clean. The general feeling is that the average reader knows very well that fiction doesn't follow the same rules as real life, and few readers would take a fictional crime as licence to commit one themselves. So, plot will probably not affect the vast majority of readers.
Themes are different. Because they are not explicitly stated, and because some authors are not even conscious of their own themes, what a book is "really about" might have more effect on the readers than they realise.
Themes can also tell authors a lot about themselves. If you have written more than three or four stories or books, take a moment to look at your themes. Do you see one or more repeating through the body of your work?
Recently I had cause to look at my themes. I found a surprising number of my books dealt with three quite different themes. The first was an implied truth theme, of the kind discussed above.
"Making the best of what you have or can get is better than whining about what you haven't got."
Hmm. To the best of my knowledge I have never consciously applied that theme, yet there it is, again and again in different guises.
SIMPLE THEMES.
The other recurrent themes in my work are not of the "implied truth" kind. They are one-word concerns, which I shall call "Simple Themes".
The first of these is "friendship". Many of my books are about friendship (or sometimes romance) between odd companions. Boy and bunyip, cat and dog, woman and ghost, mother and son, dreamer and action-girl, countryman and city girl, werewolf and werehorse, girl and hound...
The second is "creativity". In a lot of my books a character's creativity is very important. In 'Translations in Celadon', Rosanna's creativity is a major theme. There is also a related implied truth theme to the story; "creativity used for bad purpose is evil."
The two types of theme can obviously co-exist in the same body of work.
Other Simple Themes might be -
"loneliness", "decadence", "courage", "sacrifice", "growth", bitterness", "envy" etc. These are intangible forces (all abstract nouns) which permeate the story. They are what the story is really about.
Simple themes are neither good nor bad in themselves, and quite often they appear spontaneously in the novel. But what of implied truths?
Sometimes, the implied truth themes of well-loved stories can be startling if we fillet them out and look them in the eye. The theme of 'Snow White' seems to be that "the innocent will always be rescued and the guilty punished". The theme of the movie, 'Grease' seems to be "you should change your image if you want to succeed". The theme of 'Rapunzel' might be either "the innocent suffer for someone else's crimes" or "trying to keep something for yourself will never work".
These themes, too, can appear spontaneously in a novel, but although they might arise from the subconscious in the first place, you should always look at them squarely once they are in place. Otherwise, you might find yourself implying a "truth" you never meant.
Print this page
Latest Articles